Israel-Palestine live: US and Israel air differences over Gaza strategy

UN officials warned that half of the population of Gaza is starving and said its humanitarian operation in the besieged territory is collapsing. 

Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the UN World Food Programme, told Reuters that it is building up "enough food aid in Egypt and Jordan to reach one million people in Gaza in a month".

"We have front-loaded with our internal resources so that we have food available in Egypt and in Jordan to reach some 1,000,000 people in one month. We are ready to roll. The trucks are ready to move," said Skau. 

"There is a question of how long this can continue because the humanitarian operation is collapsing.

"Half of the population are starving, nine out of 10 are not eating every day. Obviously the needs are massive."

Israel's Y-Net news website said Palestinian fighters had wounded at least 5,000 Israeli soldiers in Gaza, with thousands declared disabled as fighting continues to intensify in the enclave. 

Specialists from Israel's Ministry of Defence said its rehabilitation department has received 60 newly wounded soldiers every day from Gaza since the start of the war in Gaza. 

Limor Luria, who heads the rehabilitation department at the Ministry of Defence in Israel, painted a dark picture and told Y-net that at least 2,000 Israeli soldiers had also been declared disabled. 

"We have never faced something like this," Luria told Y-Net. 

"More than 58% of the wounded who we take in have severe injuries to the hands and feet, including those that require amputations. 

"Twelve percent suffered from internal injuries to the spleen, kidney, laceration of internal organs. Some soldiers suffered head and eye injuries, with seven per cent suffering from mental health issues - with that number expected to skyrocket." 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the United State's decision to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza made it complicit in "war crimes" against Palestinians. 

A statement released by the PA presidency said Abbas held the US responsible for the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women and the elderly in Gaza.  

US officials told Reuters that the Biden administration had asked Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells of Israel's Merkava tanks for its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. 

A US official and former US official said the potential sale, worth more than $500m, is separate from President Joe Biden's $110.5bn supplemental request that includes funding for Ukraine and Israel.  

Former US State Department official Josh Paul said the US State Department is pushing congressional committees to quickly approve the sale despite concerns that US-made weapons have killed Palestinians in Gaza.  

A spokesperson for the Israeli army said it struck several Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight.

The spokesperson said it targeted an operational headquarters and fired rockets into Lebanon after Hezbollah launched missiles into Israel. 

Israeli forces have killed a 25-year-old Palestinian in Hebron, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency. 

Sari Yousef Amr died after Israeli soldiers wounded him during a raid in Dura, south of Hebron. 

Amr's father told Wafa that Israeli forces fired live bullets into his home before detaining Amr and his brother Suhaib.

The Palestinian health ministry said at least 273 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7. 

Palestinians woke up to more death and destruction as Israel continued its bombardment of the Gaza Strip after the US blocked a ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council. 

Overnight, Israeli warplanes targeted dozens of areas in southern Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians had fled after Israel told them to evacuate to areas near the Rafah crossing with Egypt. 

Many Palestinians are now sheltering in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where the injured and dead have been taken, after Israel destroyed most of Gaza's medical facilities. 

Over 70 US legislators called for the removal of presidents from three leading universities on Friday, after their responses during a hearing regarding antisemitism on campuses, Reuters reported.

The letter, written by Republican Representative Elise Stefanik and Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz, urged the boards of governors at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to dismiss their presidents, warning that failure to do so may be seen as condoning their alleged antisemitic stance.

“Testimony provided by presidents of your institutions showed a complete absence of moral clarity and illuminated the problematic double standards and dehumanization of the Jewish communities that your university presidents enabled,” the letter said.

“Given this moment of crisis, we demand that your boards immediately remove each of these presidents from their positions and that you provide an actionable plan to ensure that Jewish and Israeli students, teachers, and faculty are safe on your campuses.”

Liz Magill of Penn, Claudine Gay of Harvard, and Sally Kornbluth of MIT, who testified before a US House Committee on Tuesday, are facing criticism from their respective Jewish communities over their handling of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian group tensions.

Following their testimonies, calls for the resignations of Magill and Gay intensified after they refused to answer whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate their schools’ codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.

The US used its veto in the United Nations Security Council to block a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza on Friday.

The draft resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates received support from thirteen members of the Security Council, with Britain choosing to abstain.

The voting took place after UN secretary general Antonio Guterres on Wednesday officially alerted the 15-member council about the international risks posed by the war.

Deputy US ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told reporters ahead of the vote that the resolution was “divorced from reality” and “would have not moved the needle forward on the ground”.

“It’s not an issue about isolation. It’s an issue about what we think is best to try to end this conflict as soon as possible and also to help facilitate more humanitarian assistance going into Gaza,” Wood said.

“We can’t just snap our fingers and the conflict stops. This is a very, very difficult situation,” he said

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told CBS News on Friday that “United States immigration law does not include any provisions that prohibit individuals from speaking to the press, & we have imposed no restrictions that prohibit individuals from speaking to the press”.

The statement comes after Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, said on Friday that Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki was not allowed to answer press questions because of new terms imposed by the US government on his visa.

An Israeli air strike on a family residence in Khan Younis in southern Gaza resulted in at least 10 fatalities and numerous injuries, Palestinian health officials told Reuters.

Israel’s military said late on Wednesday that its forces in Gaza were operating “in the heart of Khan Younis” for the first time.

The White House on Friday said that Israel could do more to lessen civilian casualties and acknowledged that the US shares global worries regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“We certainly all recognize more can be done to try to reduce civilian casualties,” White House national security council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The US added that is continuing to work with Israel on being cautious in its targeting in Gaza. 

At a press conference before a meeting of Arab foreign ministers and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said that Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki is not allowed to answer press questions because of new terms imposed by the US government on his visa.

“The US government has imposed restrictions on his excellency [al-Maliki] that do not allow him to respond to media questions,” Faisal bin Farhan claimed. “I believe there are certain legal repercussions.”

MEE has not yet independently verified the new visa restrictions on al-Maliki.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the violent assaults by Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

The Elysee office reported that during a phone call on Friday, Macron reiterated to Netanyahu the necessity of safeguarding Gaza's civilian population and emphasised the significance of achieving a ceasefire.

He told Netanyahu to "take the necessary measures" to end the attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

On Friday, the European Union's executive arm announced that in 2024 it will allocate an initial sum of $134m for Palestinian humanitarian assistance.

"With each passing day, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens," the European Commission said in a statement.

The European Commission announced that the newly allocated funds will aid humanitarian groups operating in both Gaza and the West Bank.

"In response, the Commission has rapidly mobilised its wide set of emergency response tools. With a total of 30 humanitarian air bridge flights organised, already 1,000 tonnes of assistance have been sent to the people in need in Gaza," the EU added.